jake tapper, jon karl on capitol hill. jon, given the deadlock, the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell says he doesn't think a deal can be reached, so he's come up with a last-ditch fallback which puts the burden on the president. >> reporter: last choice option, only if the talks completely collapse. it's complicated but the bottom line is, it would give the president the auththity on his own to gradually raise that debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion between now and the election. the political burden is all the president's. he can do it without spending cuts and even in the face of opposition from the majority in congress. but i've got to tell you, george i talked to a lot of republicans in the house, rank and file, who say it's not acceptable. they want real spending cut, a lot of them and nothing else. >> there's no guarantee of spending cuts even though it would avoid tax increases. let me bring in jake tapper for the response on that. any openness in the white house to that and where do they think the talks are right